Recovery Memoirs

A catalyst for change can take many forms. For author Erin Burrell, that life-altering moment began with a jarring knock at the door. A solemn detective delivered the news that a loved one had died. The grief and heart-splitting loss sent her groping for answers. In her search, she was drawn toward an unexpected path - towards the metaphysical. After reading several books about psychic mediums, Erin wondered if she too might be able to connect with her deceased loved one.

Her Name Was Lola is the story of Trish Ryan’s triumphant recovery from a stroke that should have killed her. She had a successful career in the entertainment industry for over 30 years until May 5th, 2017, when she suffered a severe stroke that changed her life forever. Living a very fast-paced life had not prepared her for when it all came to a grinding halt. Lost and confused with no roadmap to follow, she relied on her faith to show her the way to embrace what happened and move forward.

An unbearable loss followed by a devastating divorce. The path to recovery starts here. The suicide of a child is the most terrible thing that can happen to parents. Many parental relationships fall apart due to the crushing weight of such a trauma. In her poignant poetic memoir, Devi Nina Bingham shares her journey following the loss of her daughter. Through Survivor Times Two: A Poetic Memoir of Suicide and Divorce, Bingham offers a candid and soul-cleansing reflection on the post-modern experience of grief. The book reminds the reader that they are carrying a tremendous load—or, in the...

Often misdiagnosed and misunderstood, traumatic brain injury (TBI) may be a life-altering event that can produce a wide range of symptoms affecting physical as well as psychological health. Now, a physician shares her personal journey with TBI after suffering a life-changing accident. In this touching and informative book, Dr. Chrisanne Gordon chronicles her struggles - the high points as well as the lows - as she is challenged to make sense of what happened and realizes that her medical training did not prepare her for these struggles.

Neuroscientist Lipska was diagnosed early in 2015 with metastatic melanoma in her brain's frontal lobe. As the cancer progressed and was treated, she experienced behavioral and cognitive symptoms connected to a range of mental disorders, including dementia and her professional specialty, schizophrenia. Lipska's family and associates were alarmed by the changes in her behavior, which she failed to acknowledge herself.

Blood On The Ceiling: The Awesome Calamities of Addiction and the Miracle of Recovery is a riveting, no-punches-held, inside look at Nelson Trout's excursion into the dark, lonely, and scary world of drug and alcohol abuse and addiction. Blood On The Ceiling is a once-in-a-lifetime audiobook which explores, in brutal detail, the kind of hellish existence that often accompanies life in the fast lane of drugs, partying and the eventual isolation that comes with this terrible addiction.

A. A. Gill's memoir begins in the dark of a dormitory with six strangers. He is an alcoholic, dying in the last-chance saloon - driven to dry out, not out of a desire to change but mainly through weariness. He tells the truth - as far as he can remember it - about drinking and about what it is like to be drunk. Pour Me is about the blackouts, the collapse, the despair. Lacerating, unflinching, uplifting, it is a classic about drunken abandon. Read by Dougray Scott.

When SPC Kayla Williams and SGT Brian McGough met at a mountain outpost in Iraq in 2003, only their verbal sparring could have betrayed a hint of attraction. Neither could have predicted the sequence of events that would shape their lives. Brian, on his way back to base after mid-tour leave, was wounded by a roadside bomb that sent shrapnel through his brain. Kayla waited anxiously for news and, on returning home, sought out Brian. The two began a tentative romance and later married, but neither anticipated the consequences of Brian’s injury on their lives.

The year 2013 was my year of Job. In the Bible, Job was a very wealthy man with a large family who loved God. For reasons Job did not understand, he lost his family, wealth, businesses, and then health--quickly and violently. For about nine months, he was lost to grief and despaired even of life. But God. But God.

Confessions of an English Opium-Eater is a graphic, honest, autobiographical account written by Thomas De Quincey, about his laudanum addiction and its profound effect on his life. Confessions was the first major work De Quincey published and the one which won him lasting fame. This intensely riveting audiobook edition is therefore a must for all those interested in the pharmacological arts, altered states, the pitfalls of addiction, and the age-old quest for expanded consciousness.

Maybe I Don't Belong Here is a deeply personal exploration of the duality of growing up both Black and British, recovery from crisis and a rallying cry to examine the systems and biases that continue to shape our society. In this powerful and provocative account of a life lived after psychosis, critically acclaimed actor David Harewood uncovers devastating family history and investigates the very real impact of racism on Black mental health.

From Hell to Hope: A Memoir of Addiction and Mental Illness takes you on a visceral journey with Kate, from the confusion of her teenage years to the fragile beauty of motherhood. Witness her battle with addiction and bipolar disorder, the desperate lows that threatened to consume her, and the flickering moments of hope that fueled her fight.

Have you or a loved one ever struggled with addictions, codependency, trauma, or shame? Do you often feel "not good enough", alone, or hopeless? Have you ever wondered if God is real, alive, or cares about your mess? This book is for you. Laura McCarthy writes from both her personal struggles and professional point of view.

An adventurous and free-spirited young man, Winston "Win" Williams, was destined for adventure. He spent years sailing around the world, experiencing life many only see through the movies or TV. From Tahiti to New Guinea and the far east, to the Indian Ocean, Africa, and the Philippines, Win had it all under a cloud of sails. Until he didn't. This dramatic memoir brings us from the highs of life on the seas to the lows of addiction and, devastatingly, losing it all. Win shares openly and honestly his experience of recovery from alcoholism, and the restoration of relationships and a new life...

Wenn die Droge zu deiner Schwester wird, wenn du schon einen Abschiedsbrief an dich selbst verfasst hast, dann bist du am Ende. Eric Stehfest hat es erlebt, zehn Jahre war Christin seine "Schwester", seine ständige Begleiterin - Crystal Meth. Mit ihr fiel er unglaublich tief und hat sich dennoch gerettet. Nun berichtet er schonungslos, direkt, unverstellt und berauschend literarisch von seinem Doppelleben, seinem Entzug und dem Leben danach. Die ungekürzte Lesung des packenden Bestsellers, gelesen von Eric Stehfest.

In 2012, Rhyannon Styles began her gender transition and attended her first 12-step meeting - beginning two journeys that changed the course of her life. Using her personal narrative as a springboard for exploring addiction, recovery and LGBTQ+ mental health, Rhyannon writes with searing honesty about the complexity of her experiences. The audiobook spans a range of addictions including alcohol, food, sex and relationships, the internet and narcotics, and highlights the ways in which addiction and the transition process can overlap.

An unflinching memoir of survival, redemption, and the unstoppable human spirit. Born into violence, poverty, and chaos on the unforgiving streets of Southeast London, Mark Anthony seemed destined for a life of destruction. Abandoned by his father, battered by abuse, entangled in crime, drugs, and despair, his early years read like a grim checklist of everything that could go wrong. Expelled from schools, locked in children’s homes, betrayed, imprisoned — even battling cancer, bankruptcy, and false accusations — Mark’s life spiraled again and again to the brink of ruin. But in his ...

Jim Lucey has been working for more than 25 years with patients suffering from mental health problems. When people at their most vulnerable present to his room at St Patrick’s University Hospital, Dublin, they reveal their fears, traumas and very real human predicaments. Most of the assessments described in this audiobook took place in this room. While the patients’ stories are diverse, one common theme emerges - that of recovery.

Victoria Vanstone grew up in 1980s England in a happy home full of laughter, booze and a disturbing amount of fancy-dress parties. From her youthful days downing cheap wine at the local park to dodging disastrous relationships and a messy run-in with a firework, her reliable mate alcohol was never far from reach. Eventually, Victoria found herself in Australia with a husband and a child on the way. After sobering up for her first pregnancy, becoming a boring, bottom-wiping, cleaning machine meant she soon returned to her binge-drinking ways.

Angela Leigh Tucker had not expected death that day. Newlywed, thirty years old and a successful public relations professional, she and her husband were driving home when a semi-truck hurtled over the center-lane divider and crushed their SUV. Her husband died on impact. She was left hanging onto life by a thin, golden thread. With her brain severely injured and her neck, shoulder, and ribs broken, she had instantly lost everything but her will to live.